Jesse Love wins pole award at Talladega, fifth of rookie season
For the fifth time in his rookie campaign, Jesse Love wins the NASCAR Xfinity Series pole award, this time at Talladega. Love once again squeaked by his Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Hill for an all-RCR front row.
Jesse Love has shown tremendous potential this season. He won at Talladega earlier this season, can he do it again? The 19-year-old is coming off five straight top-10 finishes in the Xfinity Series.
Love is +3 to the cutline right now. He wants to make the Round of 8 and win Rookie of the Year. This pole award is the next step.
Jesse Love and Austin Hill make up the front row. They are followed by the JGR duo of Chandler Smith and Sheldon Creed. Then it is AJ Allmendinger, Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst, Shane van Gisbergen, Aric Almirola, and Cole Custer to round out the top-10.
Sammy Smith was the worst of the playoff drivers. He qualified P27. Every spot in the top-10 was taken by a playoff driver. Almirola is competing in the owners’ championship in the No. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Keep an eye out for Carson Kvapil as well. He makes his superspeedway debut, qualifying P18 in the No. 88 car for JR Motorsports.
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Jesse Love leading the future of Xfinity Series
Now, I’m getting ahead of myself here. But Jesse Love is showing that he will be a driver to watch in 2025. There will be drivers like AJ Allmendinger and Shane van Gisbergen heading back to the Cup Series and a crop of new drivers will be coming next season as well.
Love is racing against one of his future full-time competitors today, Carson Kvapil. Connor Zilisch and William Sawalich will also be suiting up in the Xfinity Series for 2025. Those are four drivers who very well could be the face of the Cup Series one day.
Before all of that happens, we have the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs to worry about. Jesse Love would LOVE to win at Talladega a second time and sweep the season. It would also ease his worries as far as qualifying for the Round of 8.
Jesse Love is showing that his qualifying speed is no fluke. He has five pole awards on the season. When he gets ready to line up at Daytona in February 2025, he very well may be the championship favorite.